As the use of small and/or portable computing devices has increased in recent years, so has the distribution and use of content files, i.e., audio files, video files, software files and game files. Consumers routinely download and play songs on their portable MP3 players and smartphones. Further, garners routinely buy and play video games on their desktop game consoles, handheld fame consoles and smartphones. Many other consumers, however, still purchase content on media (audio CDs, game discs, video DVDs) at physical stores such as audio stores and gaming stores. This can be tedious and time-consuming, as consumers are forced to travel to a physical storefront and transport a tangible media item to the location where they plan to enjoy the content.
The rise of portable computing has also given way to the proliferation of small storage devices. These devices are typically small and light in nature and can store large amounts of data, in the megabyte to gigabyte range. As small storage apparatuses are manufactured in increasing quantities, the prices of these devices have plummeted and the number of small storage devices on the market has increased dramatically. There are multitudes of small flash memory devices, such as USB thumb drives, available on the market and various other devices, such as standard magnetic hard drives, are becoming smaller and less expensive. As a result, these small storage devices are frequently used to transfer data from place to place and computer to computer.
As the use of the Internet has increased over recent years, so has the exchange of information and ideas. File sharing, in particular, has enjoyed increasing popularity over the last few years. However, the growth of the Internet has posed some interesting obstacles in the field of access control of protected content. As users increasingly send and receive files quickly and in great quantities, access control can take a back seat to the free flow of information. Early approaches to the problem involved control over the acquisition of the content. However, this approach lacked the exercise of control over the content once the content was acquired by a user.
Therefore a need exists to overcome the problems with the prior art as discussed above, and particularly for a more efficient way for consumers to place purchased protected content onto a portable media apparatus for transfer to an authorized player of the content.